Breeding bird distribution in fragmented coniferous taiga in southern Finland

Abstract

We censused breeding birds in 35 fragments of old coniferous taiga (area range 0 .4-101 ha), surrounded by clear-cuts and young managed forests, in southern Finland . The data are analyzed both at the community and at the species population level . Habitats in the fragments comprised fairly barren and uniform pine-spruce forests ; the influence of habitat variation on the fragments' breeding communities was slight . The fragments were divided into four size classes. Species richness, analyzed by rarefaction, is highest in 6-16 ha fragments; individual small (